I've actually seen the opposite. My experiences would point to a 0.1% retention rate, but that's anecdotal evidence. The build up of anecdotal evidences like these of all our areas combined, is obviously what drew to this 37%. As for me, I'm part of the 0.1% of my experience.

The thing is, in my area, people generally despise Windows Phone, and I've had one person tell me the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is better than the HTC TITAN, just because the former doesn't use Windows. There is also a strong association to lag, BSOD's, etc. And finally, to put the nail in the coffin, for many of my friends, Instagram is KEY. They just will not buy a phone without it. Period. No matter if it does everything else, makes your tea, gives you a 1'000'000'000'000 IQ, sees into the future, predicts the correct lottery numbers every week without fail. If it doesn't have Instagram, it's a no buy. So many people try WP, see no Instagram, and instantly regret it.

Truthfully, this is silly. In March, WP 7 users just found out they would not get WP8. There was a very limited selection of top end WP's at the time, the 900 and the Titan series was really it. It truly seemed like a dead end OS.

IF WP 8 closes the gap in functions with Android, IF they continue to close the gap in apps (yes, yes, including Instagram), and IF the promotion and support of WP 8 devices continue like they have for the current HTC and Nokia devices then the bad taste of consumers and tech followers of the WP 7 time frame will fade away.

If not, we may be a part of a 5%-7% user base for the life span of live tiles.